Modern Baker Challenge: Sour-cream apple pie

What makes you feel better after a slightly stressful afternoon? Me, I decided to come home and bake a pie with my little girl.

This is my thirteenth recipe from the sweet tarts and pies section of The Modern Baker. Based entirely on what I had in the kitchen (and the fact that the last batch of apples we bought were a little bruised and battered), we decided to make sour-cream apple pie.

Before I purchased my own set of 4 1/2" tart pans (which I love, by the way), I asked my dad if he had any small tart pans. He didn't have what I was looking for, but he did find two 4 1/2" pie plates which he gave me just in case. The little girl and I debuted them this afternoon.

I made 1/3 recipe of the apple filling (apples, unsalted butter, and sugar), the sour cream custard (flour, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, and sour cream), and the crumb topping (flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and unsalted butter). It was absolutely perfect for the two mini pie plates.

I used a little packet of sweet tart dough that was in my freezer (1/3 of the full recipe). For the first time, I hadn't defrosted the dough in the fridge ahead of time, so I did an experiment. I pulled it out of the freezer and set it on the counter. By the time I was finished making the two fillings and the crumb topping, the dough was defrosted enough that I could use my rolling pin but it wasn't warm at all. Hurrah!

The mini pies baked for 45 minutes. I was waiting for the crumb topping to get darker, but I think I'd pull them out at 35 or 40 minutes next time; the filling was a tad dry. Still, this was a delicious pie. NM says that it needs no accompaniment; true, it doesn't need one, but it wasn't hurt by a little scoop of vanilla ice cream either! =) Another winner!